Lord Dorchester Secondary School

Lord Dorchester Secondary School is a Thames Valley District School Board Secondary School located in Dorchester, Ontario.

Although small when compared to urban secondary schools, Lord Dorchester is fairly large when looking at things from a rural perspective. Lord Dorchester is not an overly academic school because it offers a range of non-academic programs like shop classes. The mascot of Lord Dorchester is the Canadian Beaver. The student population hovers around the 500 to 600 student range.

The School

Lord Dorchester Secondary School was constructed in 1961. The school has a good amount of facilities available to staff and students such as a weight room and fully equipped athletic facilities. The school offers most base programs at par with most schools however recently some open programs have been offered every other year, and some not at all. Students looking for those programs have had to move to surrounding communities. As well the school can be considered lacking technology with workstations being dated and unreliable and even in some cases not enough in a lab for a whole class, however in recent years the school has invested in data projectors and "Smart" boards. The building has not had a major renovation of any kind in recent memory and lacks some of the features of newer urban schools such as air conditioning systems and larger hallways/classrooms, however recently had asbestos removed. The school is surrounded by residential areas centrally located in the town of Dorchester, where a percentage of the staff and students reside.

Athletics

Lord Dorchester has a wide array of athletic programs run by faculty members. Some examples of school teams include soccer and basketball teams. These teams enjoy marginal success when compared to schools of equal size. The LDSS Track and Field team continues to be a source of pride for the school due to recent successes by the team. There have been many recent additions to the Athletics Program at Lord Dorchester. These changes include the creation of a cheerleading squad and a boy's rugby team. The school does not have a paved track and no longer has a football team as it once did.